Dogs At War

Dogs At War

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

1 Corinthians 10:13

WHEN I WAS A NEW CHRISTIAN, I read a story that totally impacted how I thought about living the Christian life. In fact, the principle I learned from it has been probably the essential factor in helping me to overcome one of the biggest obstacles every Jesus follower faces: temptation.

There was a small village in Alaska with no entertainment options. The most exciting thing happened every Saturday morning, when a man would bring his two dogs into town and have them fight until one dog couldn’t fight anymore and the other was declared the winner.^a All the locals would come out to watch and bet on a dog. Most would win about half their bets. But one man from the village began to notice that the owner of the dogs also bet every week, and got every bet right. He knew the dog owner was somehow fixing the fights, so he confronted him: “Listen, I know you’re up to something. If you don’t let me know what it is, I’m telling everyone this is fixed.”

The owner of the dogs took a deep breath and said, “All right, I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone else. When I bring the dogs home from the fight on Saturday I feed both of them for four days, but from that point I stop feeding one. When I bring them into town on Saturday you can’t tell the difference, but one of them is weak and one is strong because I’ve fed one and starved the other. And the one I feed always wins.”

God’s Power, Not Willpower

Most people try to battle temptation with willpower. I have a secret to tell you: temptation has more power than your willpower. If you try to battle temptation with willpower, you will be overpowered. If we put the problem and the solution into math equations, they might look like this:

The Power of Temptation > Willpower

BUT

God’s Power > The Power of Temptation

You can’t overcome temptation.^b God can. And if you’ve given your life to God, he’s given his life to you. He has given you his nature through his Holy Spirit inside you.

At the same time, you’re still human and have your old nature that craves sin. And so . . . let’s get ready to rumble! Here’s how the Bible describes it:

I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.^c

So, when you’re tempted, who will win? Will it be God’s side, whispering in one ear, “Don’t do it. Say no”? Or will it be the bad side, whispering in the other ear, “It’s not a big deal. Everyone’s doing it. Just do it once”? Who will win?

The side you feed always wins. And the side you starve always loses.

Think of a boxer. Whether or not he defeats his opponent doesn’t depend on how much he wants to win when he gets in the ring or how hard he tries once the bell rings. Victory depends on his preparation before he ever gets in the ring.

When you’re tempted, it’s not about how much you want to be faithful or how hard you try to say no. It’s all about what happened in the hours and days and weeks leading up to that moment. If you’ve been feeding the good side you will “let the Holy Spirit guide” your life when the moment of truth arrives.

So how do you feed the good side?

Every time you read the Bible, you feed the good side.

Every time you pray, you feed the good side.

Every time you memorize a Bible verse, you feed the good side.

Every time you serve God or other people, you feed the good side.

Every time you give money to God, you feed the good side.

Every time you spend time with and get encouragement from other Christians, you feed the good side.

You may not realize it, but when you do those types of things, you’re in training, gaining spiritual strength. When you’re tempted, you’ll be amazed that you have a power beyond your own that enables you to say no.

And it will be even better if you’ve been starving the bad side. How do you do that? It depends on what temptations you’re susceptible to.

If you find yourself tempted sexually, there are some things you shouldn’t be looking at.

If you’re tempted to be greedy, you shouldn’t drive through nice neighborhoods and stare at the houses.

If gossip is a weakness, maybe you need to think twice before talking to certain people.

If you have a short fuse, what is it that lights it? Perhaps you need to stop listening to the radio personality who gets you riled up, or stop checking your stocks, or quit playing in pickup basketball games.

If you’re tempted to overeat, maybe cut out those weekly trips to the chocolate factory.

There is a war going on inside you. “Two forces are constantly fighting each other,” and the battle is too important to lose.

The side you feed will always win.

Now What?

• Read Luke 4:1-13.
• What seemed to help Jesus overcome temptation? How could those same things help you in your battle against temptation?
• What temptations do you know you’ll face today? This weekend? Ask God to give you his strength to overcome temptation.